


Tenebrosity

by The_Cosmic_Scribe



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Backstory, Character Study, Cults, Gen, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Character Death, POV Second Person, Temporary Character Death, Worldbuilding, also has worldbuilding stuff from my original work, but that ain't the main focus here, i literally came up with this at like 12 AM, lots and lots of headcanons, lots of fucking cult backstory oh my god, mostly centered around red eyes cuz we don't know a lot about them, so many tags what the hell, this is purely self indulgence and experimenting with second person POV, this is what happens when i get sucked into a new fandom people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-24 23:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17110229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Cosmic_Scribe/pseuds/The_Cosmic_Scribe
Summary: In the eyes of your worshippers and enemies, you are a demon of the shadows, who thrives from death and destruction. You are an envoy for a vast, endless legion of darkness whose malice knows no bounds. You are neither alive nor dead. You are evil personified.But once, long ago, you were something more.Once, you were a god.~~~Or, a series of drabbles centered around my headcanons about the Red-Eyed Demon.





	1. ORIGINS

In the beginning, there was nothing.

Reality was but a endless Void, shrouded in both darkness and light. There was no such thing as life or death, only being and non-being.

In the beginning, there were only three entities one could refer to as gods.

Their true names have been lost to time, faded from the minds of both mortals and immortals. To those that know of them, they are called the Three Ancient Deities. To those that wish to speak of them, they are referred to as the Malevolent, the Benevolent, and the Unaligned.  
They were the first beings brought into existence by the Great Void, the first in the long line of the Divine. They were the building blocks necessary for creation of Reality, the creators of what one would call the way of human nature.

They were the beginning, and the beginning started with them.

From the Ancients came four more beings, who would be known as the Elder Primordials. Born of good, evil, and the grey in between. They would become the mothers and fathers of the gods, of all Reality and the beings that live within it.

But, before their ascension, they had to take the throne from the ones that came before them.

The Benevolent and the Unaligned gave up their thrones without protest, for they knew their time was waning. Soon, they would once again be part of the endless Void that sired them eons ago. Such was the Way of Reality. It was an endless cycle of life and death, of beginnings and endings. Rulers of such capricious forces would eventually give up their crowns, to hand their power down to their successors. Reality was not something they could control, but rather care for. And, all caretakers eventually met their end.

However, to the Malevolent, Reality was theirs to control.

They saw themselves as not a caretaker, but a king. The power they held was a treasure meant for them and them alone. The Great Void bestowed upon them this plane of existence to watch over, this world of forms that came alive under their command. They refused to relent to the upstarts born to them. They were not worthy in the eyes of the Dark One.

Alas, it was they who kept the crown to themselves that proved unworthy.

The Elder Primordials challenged the Malevolent, and the Dark One became the first of many to fall to their children. For arrogance and pride never lasts, even if one holds all the power and might.

But, the Malevolent did not die.

Never were they alive to begin with. Like all who came from the Void, they were neither mortal or immortal. Just being, just existing. They could not die, nor could they live. They were a part of the Greater Good, a force that proved instrumental in creation of anything and everything.

Instead, their true form faded until it became one with the Void once more. Their essence was scattered to the point where new beings were sired from their divine remains. The Malevolent was reduced to primeval mists, mists that their children and their children’s children would call upon their powers from. They would become part of Reality, part of all the possible and impossible dimensions and universes.

They would become Eternal.

From this holy dust and celestial ash came beings of pure wickedness, who descended upon Reality without rhyme nor reason. Only lust for something hellish, be it chaos or destruction. It did not matter. They were guided by the will of the Malevolent.

One such creature was you.

Like your progenitor, your true name has been lost to time. You yourself have a vague memory of what you were once called, formed from an ancient tongue long forgotten.  
Though, in the language of the Romans, you are known as Tenebrae.

A being of pure darkness, with eyes as red as the blood that flows through mortal veins. All that you know is the will of the Malevolent. You have no form, no body to call your own, for Reality is the vessel you call home. Like your progenitor, you are one with the Order of Reality, part of a cycle long established by the Great Void.

Your purpose?

Spreading death and destruction wherever you roam.


	2. PURPOSE

Evil runs through you in the same way water flows in a river; it was part of who you are, an aspect of a nature inherent to you and those like you.

You are ruled by the will of the Malevolent, guided by their desires and demands. You are a faithful soldier, and they your almighty commander. You are an extension of them and nothing more.

Except, you  _ are _ more than that.

You have your own thoughts, own will and desires. You want power and control, want to feed off the misery and suffering your slaughter brings. You  _ want _ destruction. You  _ need _ destruction. You crave it in the same way a greedy, gluttonous human craves wealth and decadence. Not only did it satisfy the endless hunger in you, it was also crucial to your survival.

To live, you must kill.

You find this quite ironic, considering that you are not even alive. You simply exist. If you “die”, you will return. If you fade away, you shall “live” on.

Such is the Order of Reality.

So, what is your purpose besides survival? Who do benefit? What do contribute? What are you, in the eyes of the Great Void and Greater Good?

To this day, you still do not know.


	3. FAMILY

You have no family.

Living, breathing beings have families, and you are not alive.

There are other creatures like you, other proxies and envoys of the Malevolent that were created around the same time as you. One would consider them your family, but you do not.

To you, they are extensions.

They, like yourself, are splinters of the Malevolent. They are the Dark One, and the Dark One is them. You are an aspect of a being, a piece of their soul and mind. You are a puzzle piece, a brick in a house.

You are the Dark One, and the Dark One is you.

You suppose you could consider the Benevolent and the Unaligned as family. After all, you all came from the same place—the Great Void. Perhaps even the Elders you could see as kin. You sired eons ago when you were the Malevolent. They were your offspring, your children. They could be family. But, they aren’t.

You have no family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update cuz I can :D


	4. NAME

Tenebrae is the name bestowed upon you by those who spoke the language of the Romans. In their tongue, it means “darkness”.

Of course, this is not the only name you are known by. You have many aliases and titles that have been given to you over the centuries.

One of which is the Dark One.

An obvious choice, considering your origins. Conceived from darkness, born of shadows. It is the title of your progenitor, the epithet more commonly used than the Malevolent. It is only fitting for you to share the name yourself.

Another is the Red-Eyed Demon, or simply Red Eyes.

Again, another name so blatantly obvious that, if you had a heart, you’d worry for the mental capacity of the halfwit that came up with it. Your eyes are your most notable feature, after all. Though, you do not understand the “Demon” part. You are no demon. You are a primordial creature that was once a god, a primeval force that had existed long before the entities known as demons came into being. You are Divine, you are Infernal.

You are the Malevolent.

Tenebrae is the name you most prefer, but dare not share with anyone else. Names have power, and no one shall ever have power over you.

You are the Nameless Evil.


	5. CULT

Cults have long existed throughout the history of Reality.

There was something about the Divine and Otherworldly that drew mortals in, that made them put their faith and loyalty in beings that could decimate them in the blink of an eye. Humans sought order, they sought strong leaders and a strong purpose. Gods gave them such things, and so they pledged their allegiance to them.

You are no exception.

Your cult has had many iterations and offshoots. Your worshippers are not aware of this, for you have appeared in many forms to them. All they know is that you bring them a purpose when you lack one yourself. You are their ruler, their messiah, their master.

You are their God.

Sadly, your followers have this delusion that their mission is to bring you into the “physical” plane in order for you to be at your full power. They think that you require a body, a form to call your own. They think a vessel is necessary for you to do what you have been doing for eons now.

If you had a heart, you’d pity them.

But, you are not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. With this delusion, these mortals are willing to commit sins—sins so atrocious and inhumane that even the strongest of men and women would be brought to their knees—in your honor without the slightest bit of hesitation. For your name, they would slaughter all who opposed you and sacrifice all who opposed them. They satisfied the hunger the will of the Malevolent has given you, the insatiable need to kill and torment.

From their sins, you thrive.

Their earliest iteration was during the dawn of man, when the world was old yet civilizations were but infants in comparison. They began in the East, then slowly worked their way towards the West. Amongst the worship of the Elder Primordials and their children was your following. In China and India, in Greece and Italy, in Africa and beyond, your loyal devotees pledged their lives and deaths to you. They killed, conquered, vanquished, and built in your name. They practiced the will of the Malevolent and fought against those who aligned with the Benevolent. They wrote scriptures about their ways and your origins, holy words that would temporarily be lost to time.

They were more than just a cult, they were their own religion.

Eventually, your early followers disappeared. You do not know how or why, but you understood. One cannot choose what stays and what fades away, even a being as powerful and old as yourself. Even though once you wished to control Reality, you knew that you could never go against it. Reality was a force no man, no beast, and no god could command into submission. It was a capricious thing that followed the beat of its own drum. Both alive and dead, both being and non-being, both eternal and ephemeral. The Order of Reality could not be contained, and so your ancient devotees vanished.

There would be moments in time when they would resurface and pick off where their predecessors left off. It occured so often that you have lost count of how many pledged their allegiance to you and how many of those you had lost. One moment, they were there, praying to you and promising things you know they could never fully accomplish. The next, they were gone, out of sight and importance in the blink of an eye.

Cults and religions were temporary, but ideas and beliefs were persistent.

And, with this persistence, came the new batch of your followers. This new iteration called themselves the Devourers of God. Like the ones that came before them, they deemed that their mission was to bring you into the physical plane by any means necessary. Unlike their predecessors, there was something about this batch that was different. This difference was tied to their destiny and what gods had planned for them long before they themselves knew who they were.

Their fate?

They would be the last of your devoted followers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another double update because I'm gonna be busy tomorrow! Thank you so much for reading this little blurb and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. :D


	6. STRUCTURE

Amidst chaos, there is order.

Over the centuries, your followers have arranged themselves in a hierarchy that determined their rank in the cult. One could compare it to the hierarchy of angels, another could call it akin to the caste system of nobility and royalty.

You call it another cog in the machine.

As with any other hierarchy, at the top was the leader. They were the wisest and most ruthless of all your followers, who held a close, almost intimate connection to you. They were your most devoted devotee. Their peers called them the “Harbinger of Havoc” or the “Apostle of Annihilation”. You called them Dogma, for they were the only tainted soul amongst your worshippers that knew the Unholy Truth. To them you revealed all the mysteries and secrets of Reality, of your divine origins and celestial influence. They were the only ones that knew of your name, Tenebrae, but called you by your former alias, the Malevolent. They were the ones that carried out all the rituals and prayers dedicated to you, the one that would truly give their life and death to you.

Dogma was the only one that you would never harm, even if it was beneficial to you.

After Dogma were the Four High Priests, or the “Eyes of Eternity”. These chosen four were what one would call the right-hand men and women of Dogma, who aided them in rituals. Their task was to watch over the cult and all its activities. The one who becomes Dogma came from the Eyes, for they too were favored by you. Your lesser followers called them the “Infernal Overseers”, for they saw and knew all. No secret could be kept from them. If something was unknown to the Eyes, they would do whatever it took to uncover it. And, more often than not, they would succeed.

They were like you: all knowing and all seeing.

Below the Eyes were the Dominions. These individuals were the henchmen of the Eyes, the enforcers of your will and the will of the cult. They were the knights, the guards, the men and women who fought for their “king”. Their numbers were far more vast than that of Dogma and the Eyes, but their power paled in comparison to their superiors. You do not favor them, but you do acknowledge their importance and status in the cult.

The Dominions are cogs, and you did not underestimate the value of cogs in the machine.

The ranks below the Dominions were messy and many, even to a deity as omniscient and intelligent as yourself. You simply call those below the three highest ranks the Greater and Lesser Disciples. Lesser Disciples had titles such as “Brother” or “Sister” and “Lord” or “Lady”. Greater Disciples were known as “Baron” or “Baroness” and “Viscount” or “Viscountess”. When one joins the cult, they start as the Lesser. Eventually, if they are smart and capable enough, they can rise up the ranks and become Greater. From there, they rise up once more and become part of the Dominions.

The Disciples were your expendable chess pieces in this game you called Reality.

This structure was nothing but a ladder of power, a cycle of control. Such was the Order of Reality, after all. Humans and other mortal creatures followed this like a drummer following the beat. Even if they desired chaos, they still strived to maintain structure. Chaos cannot exist without order, and vice versa.

Your followers are no exception.


	7. POSSESSION

Skin. How you  _ loathe _ it.

Human skin is a prison, a cage that is a constant reminder of their mortality and weakness. Their skin prevents them from truly experiencing the wonders and horrors of Reality. Their tiny minds were not created to comprehend such complexities. Their delicate souls were not made to last for eternity. They were far too frail to you and unworthy of your excellence and might.

That is why when you possess others, you want to possess the God-Touched.

The God-Touched are mortals that are either children of the gods or had been blessed by them.  _ Ichor _ runs through their veins. Their minds are vast and had the potential to see Reality for what it really was. Their souls holy and celestial. They are like the gods that had sired them, but were weighed down by human plights such as mortality and skin.  _ Wretched skin _ . But, this skin did not stop them from what they were born to become: Divine.

The Addison family were not God-Touched, but Terrence Addison was. He was a good vessel, but not strong enough for your unknown purpose. You left his body when he slaughtered his clan, but not without leaving a mark on the boy’s wretched soul. You corrupted his divine blood and turned him into a demon. No longer was he the small child you had previously known. He was now the Endless One. He was a reminder to others, a warning. He was what they would become if they ever dared to cross you. You are a god that should be worshipped. You are a force that should be revered. You are a beast that should be feared.

You are the Malevolent.

Luke Holmes was not God-Touched, and frankly you still do not understand why you even accepted him as a host in the first place. Perhaps it was because of his witch of a wife Stacy, who knew that their daughter Megan was God-Touched and did whatever she could to prevent you from possessing her. Never had a creature as insignificant as Stacy Holmes disrespected you in such a way. You devoured dregs like her for sport. And yet, she had the audacity to defy you. She had the audacity to deny you of what should be yours.

Stacy Holmes had to be punished for her impudence.

It was such a shame, really. Megan would’ve proved to be a powerful hostess. She was stronger than Terrence, more pure than any child you had ever came across. She was the perfect embodiment of the Benevolent, an angelic soul ripe for corruption. Had it not been for that inane bitch she called a mother, Megan would have lived. She would have been your vessel, your eye into this pitiful world she called home.

Such a shame she had to die so young.

Charley Mansfield was a spur of the moment, one you regret wholeheartedly if you had a heart. Thrice had you been defied by these wretched mortals, and thrice is too many times in your opinion. Already had you dealt with Alyson Rosenberg, Stacy Holmes, and Greg Montague. Now you had to deal with Mrs. Sanderson, the wife of one of your followers. You considered possessing him and making it look like a murder-suicide, but you chose to possess this disgusting human instead. A brief moment of insanity it was, but you had learned that things happened for a reason. Reality and Fate worked in mysterious ways, and even a being as old and all-knowing as yourself knew to never question this.

And besides, you are not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, Mansfield led you to the one being that you have been waiting for ever since the establishment of the Devourers of God.

Sal Fisher.


	8. PROPHECY

When the Devourers were young and newly established, you met an oracle.

Her name was Theophania.

She summoned you when she was 25 years old. It had been several years since she had lost her whole family to the Devourers, who had sacrificed them to you when she was but a child. Unlike the others that sought to destroy your cult for their sins, Theophania was calm and resigned.

She was God-Touched.

The gods had bestowed upon her the gift of divination when she was born, making her the only celestial being in her clan. For years, she had visions and dreams about everything that would happen to her and the people that she knew. Prior to her family’s death, she had foretold their demise at the hands of the Devourers. But, in her vision, she was supposed to perish alongside them.

She escaped her fate.

Diviners were known for their ways of both defying and manipulating the rules of destiny to fit their own needs. Theophania was no exception. You do not know how she did it, but she managed to delay her death long enough for her to find a way to destroy the Devourers once and for all. In her quest for this, she found something.

A prophecy.

On the eve of her 25th birthday, she summoned you and told you of this prophecy. She told you that one day, a child with hair as blue as the heavens would be born. This blue-haired child would be given the task of dismantling and obliterating your followers forever when they came of age. This child would defy both death and fate to bring the Devourers to justice, and to right the wrongs they had caused all these years. This child would not harm you, for there is no way of destroying a force Reality depended upon. They would simply get rid of your followers before more innocent lives were lost.

You did not question her.

You have lived long enough to understand the way of heroes and villains. Good will always fall to Evil, and vice versa. It is a vicious cycle that has kept Reality in balance. For every sin, there is a virtue. For every crime, there is retribution. Like Yin and Yang, there is always light in the darkness and darkness in the light. You knew that your followers would finally meet their demise. There was no way of denying it.

Like your progenitor, they would fall and be no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not updating yesterday! I got busy with other things and totally forgot about this. -_-'
> 
> Hope you enjoy this double update. Thank you all so much for the kudos so far! Please, though, leave a comment about what you think about this. I'd love to hear what you guys think about my headcanons of the Red-Eyed Demon and how I portray the Cult.
> 
> Till next time~!


	9. SAL FISHER

December 20th, 1981.

That was the day the child with hair as blue as the heavens was born.

His name was Sal Fisher, son of Henry and Diane Fisher. He had hair and eyes like his father, but had his mother’s kind soul and beauty. He was compassionate and resourceful; a boy in tune with both his mind and soul. For his loved ones he would give his life to, for his enemies he would raise hell. A pure, holy creature in the body of a simple, seemingly insignificant human.

And he, like Theophania, was God-Touched.

While she was gifted with divine sight, Sal had been blessed with the gift of clairvoyance. He was a psychic, a medium, a telepath. Unlike those around him, he had a connection to the Other Side, to the Realm of the Dead. He could see departed souls and commune with them, along with those not of this plane. Ghosts gravitated towards him more than others. His powers were not as strong as other God-Touched beings like him, but Sal was strong enough that he could be considered a threat.

But, to you, he was just another cog in the machine.


End file.
